The Why: Why because I just had to meet a Bavarian Steampunk group and have a photoshoot with them!

The Who: The photos tell the story….

Elvis was playing on the stereo when Marcus, ofThe Daily Steampunk, and I settled in to a table at Murdock’s Irish Pub in Augsburg. We met for the first time just moments earlier at the Augsburg main train station as, after a couple of months of casual organization and communication, we settled on this day, the first Sunday of June 2012, for a Steampunk photoshoot with the group.

As we walked to the pub, our first in person conversation flowing freely, I was also intrigued to find that Marcus is the online marketing manager for Hubert Burda Media in Munich which manages, among other things, Elle Deutschland & Playboy Deutschland. Little did I know, on the train to Augsburg this day, that I was to be spending the afternoon with others who were as interested and immersed (if not more so) in media as I am.

Before proceeding with my own text based transcription of my conversation with Marcus as we sat at Murdocks, a good 45 minutes before the others were scheduled to arrive, I would like to share the link to his site which includes an audio installment of one of our conversations this afternoon. Be warned, by the time we had taped this we were all a few beers deep and had already had several mini photoshoots with all the characters and individuals present:

By the time we started taping, the music had shifted from Elvis to Pink Floyd.

What follows below are some of the photos taken in between….

And below, a bit of Diesel Punk thrown into the mix!

In the meantime, a text based transcription of some of my conversation that afternoon with Marcus, of The Daily Steampunk:

Annika: What attracted you to Steampunk?

Marcus: That’s actually the wrong question. I was Steampunk before I found out about it. I’ve been a Zeppelin fan all my life as well as a fan of Michael Moorecock, an author who wrote (among other things) A Nomad of the Times Dream. He wrote in Steampunk fashion before there was even a label for it. In 2008 I stumbled across Abney Park on the Internet, which was sort of my gateway drug into Steampunk.

Annika: You have a Steampunk website. What is this about?

Marcus:Daily Steampunkis about my personal view on Steampunk and related matters with a little Cthulhu mythos sprinkled in for flavor. Cthulu mythos relates to H.P. Lovecraft, a writer who I did my final thesis on in University. On a side note, Stephen King was inspired by him as well. There’s a lot of crossover here- a lot of Steampunk fans are Lovecraft fans as well.

Annika: Can you describe the Steampunk aesthetic?

Marcus: Steampunk aesthetics are rooted in Belle Epoque, Art Deco and Art Nouveau as well as Victorian styles. There is also an emphasis on individuality because in modern times everything is mass produced and sold off the shelf. Steampunk aesthetics are about your moddings, sewing your own clothes and making your own jewelry. Right now, it’s very open and accepting and you can be what you like and the aesthetic frame is still very wide.